Switzerland Travel Itinerary

If you’re trying to decide your next travel destination then consider a country in Europe where you can stand on a glacier, ride the highest cogwheel train, walk inside a mountain, hike with the cows, and view jaw-dropping scenery.

Planning a trip to Switzerland took months of research, there are so many places to see and directions to go. Here, I’m sharing our 11 day itinerary for touring Switzerland. Hope this helps anyone considering or planning a trip to this beautiful country!

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Itinerary for 11 day trip

Switzerland Map with pins for itinerary places

Zurich

We landed in Zurich and spent a day and a half here. Known for being one of the top finance cities in the world, the clean, walkable city was very pretty.

We visited the Landesmuseum, which is the Swiss National Museum. It was a good place to visit and get oriented with Switzerland and how it came to be a country despite having different regions with people that speak German, French, and Italian.

The Landesmuseum, Swiss National Museum in Zurich

Our first evening in Zurich, trying to stay awake, we went out to see the city during the blue hour and were not disappointed with the scenery. It was a Thursday night and things were lively at the outdoor restaurants.

Zurich evening river scene — Zurich evening scene with the Limmat River

It is easy to get around Zurich on the street cars and the S-bahn. We used Google maps to help us figure out where to get on and off the street cars, which one to take, and in which direction.

On our one full day in Zurich, we used the S-bahn to go to the Lindt Home of Chocolate, which is not in Zurich, but south along Lake Zurich. Once we arrived at our destination station, we had about a half mile walk to get to the Lindt Home of Chocolate.

Lindt Home of Chocolate building — Outside view of the Lindt Home of Chocolate

Colorful display of various Lindt truffles flavors — So many different types of Lindt truffle flavors!

The Lindt Home of Chocolate shows you the whole process of making chocolate, from the cacao trees, processing the cacao beans then how chocolate bars are made. There are many interactive displays and near the end you get to taste various kinds of chocolate! If you love chocolate then you can’t miss this place!

Our return trip was by boat on Lake Zurich. We walked to the nearest boat dock, Kilchberg. After waiting about 15 minutes, we boarded the ferry, which took us to Zurich and we enjoyed plenty of scenic views along the lake.

View of Zurich from a ferry boat on Lake Zurich

Bahnhofstrasse is the main shopping street, it’s a good place to find all kinds of popular stores, the Jelmoli department store (which has restaurants and food stores in the basement), and designer stores. We went to the Victorinox flagship store, where I purchased a pocket knife. I decided on a custom one where I chose which set of tools I wanted, then selecting the cover design. They had all sorts of solid colors and then ones with designs on them. This is a great place to do some souvenir shopping as well.

Display in the Victorinox Flagship Store in Zurich, Switzerland

Eating out in Switzerland can be expensive, and especially in a city like Zurich. We did a mix of dining options, for one dinner we picked up salad and charcuterie at the Coop, which is a grocery store that has various prepared foods you can take to go. For breakfast, we had originally thought to go to a bakery nearby, but seeing that a cup of coffee was about $10, we ended up having breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which was a convenient option as you don’t have to get bundled up to go out. European hotel breakfasts are so delicious! They have breads and pastries, cold cuts and cheeses, yogurts, muesli, and they made any style of eggs you want.

For one dinner, we went to the Zeughauskeller. It’s a traditional Swiss restaurant in an old armory. It’s normally recommended to get reservations, but we arrived on the early side for dinner and were able to get seating at a communal table. I had the Zürcher Geschneltzeltes, thin slices of veal and mushrooms in a cream sauce, which came with a rösti, a shredded potato pancake. This dish had so much flavor and the crispy rösti was good for soaking up the sauce. My husband had a sausage skewer — several different kinds of short sausages grilled on a skewer with vegetables in between the sausages. It came with the creamiest and light potato salad, very tasty.

Glacier Express

While planning our trip, we decided we wanted to ride on the famous Glacier Express. A train with large panoramic windows that goes through some scenic areas of Switzerland. The train goes to and from St. Moritz and Zermatt with several stops in between.

Instead of traveling all the way to St. Moritz from Zurich, we caught the Glacier Express in Chur, which is an hour and a half by train from Zurich. We made it to Chur, which is the oldest town in Zurich, with lots of time to spare so that we could purchase some sandwiches and drinks to have for lunch while on the Glacier Express. It was going to be a 6 hour ride to Zermatt.

While they did have a $43 lunch option on the train ride, we didn’t feel that it was going to be worthwhile use of our budget. When making the seat reservations — a paid reservation even with a Swiss Travel Pass, it is best to have reservations made ahead of time as this popular route fills up— they don’t inform you ahead of time what the menu was going to be and we’re picky enough to want to know what we were going to get for food.

Scenery from Glacier Express train ride of Swiss villages and mountains

The scenery during the train ride was dramatic. From gorges, to valleys and high mountain meadows and being able to view it from your seat was a treat.

During the train ride, we went through a number of tunnels, in one place we even did a full 360° loop, this helped us get to a lower elevation in less distance. The highest point we went to was about 6,700 feet at the Oberalp Pass where there is a lighthouse that marks the source of the Rhine River.

After 6 hours we arrived in Zermatt. We were happy to finally arrive in our destination and get off the train!

Zermatt

A unique town in the alps, Zermatt is a car-less place. With the traditional chalets decorated with geranium filled window boxes, Zermatt is a very charming place! It’s very easy to walk around the town - just watch out for the electric taxis and people on electric bicycles zipping around.

The Matterhorn seen from Zermatt — The Matterhorn seen from the Kirchbrücke - bridge by the church - in Zermatt

I wanted to visit Zermatt to see the real Matterhorn. The shape of this mountain peak is familiar to anyone who has visited the Disney parks.

It was definitely exciting to see the Matterhorn from our hotel room window! And as you walk around town you get different views of the distinctive peak. Most of the time there were clouds around the top, so the best time to view was in the morning.

We spent 2 full days here (3 nights), as there were plenty of things to do and sites to see.

For our first day, we went up to Gornergrat, to get here, you take a cogwheel train up to about 10,132 feet/3089 meters elevation. There are stations that you pass along the way, which are useful for hiking part of the way. At the top is several buildings housing a hotel, an observatory, an interactive museum and a restaurant.

View of Gornergrat buildings with the Matterhorn in the distance — Gornergrat buildings with the Matterhorn in the distance

The view from here is spectacular! In one direction you can see the Matterhorn and in another is several mountain peaks and some glaciers. It’s incredible to think that just on the other side of those peaks is Italy!

View from Gornergrat of several snow covered mountain peaks and glaciers

We spent a few hours exploring this area, then took the train down part way and got off at the Rotenboden station, so that we could hike down to a lake called the Riffelsee. Here you can get a reflection of the Matterhorn on the lake, a scenic place for photographs. When we were there the Matterhorn was covered with clouds unfortunately, but nevertheless, it is a beautiful area. We continued our hike down to the Riffelberg station to catch the train back to the center of Zermatt.

Rifflesee lake with a cloud topped Matterhorn

The afternoon was spent in the Matterhorn Museum, where you find out the history of the area, including how people live in the area, and how Zermatt grew into a tourist destination in the late 1800’s. There is also a photo of Walt Disney, who spent time in the area during the filming of “The Third Man On The Mountain”.

On our second day, we walked to edge of town where we caught a gondola to take us to Furi Zermatt, from there we walked to see the hanging bridge. My husband walked across it, but I couldn’t do it! The bridge is high over a gorge with the Furggbach river flowing below. It easily sways especially with foot steps. At your feet are metal strips that you can see through and I tried and walked out as far as I could, but I was very uncomfortable and turned around and got off the bridge. Now I’m not normally nervous with heights and rope bridges as I’ve been on several, but I couldn’t cross this one!

The hanging bridge over a gorge near Furi Zermatt

We walked back to Furi, through mountain meadows and part of the forest. We stopped at the Farmhouse for a snack of apple streudel, tea and beer. We walked towards Zermatt and came across the small Ricola herb garden. Ricola is the throat drops made with 13 herbs and here you can get an idea of the herbs used.

Next we headed towards the Gornerschluts, which is a narrow area with a small walkway that goes along the Gorner river. Google map directions wanted to send us to the bottom, but we noticed there were signs pointing a different way to go to Gornerschluts, we decided to follow the signs and were glad as we ended up at the top and made our way down. Since it was steep and there were lots of staircases it was a very good thing!

Staircases and river in the Gornerschluts near Zermatt, Switzerland

This ravine is very scenic with the glacier fed blue grey colored water flowing down between mossy, and tree covered rock. Once we got to the bottom, there was a place to leave a small entrance fee, and we walked along the river back to town, with the Matterhorn looking down on us! The morning clouds had cleared enough for a pretty view of the mountain peak.

The cozy interior of Restaurant Shaferstube in Zermatt

We really liked Zermatt and the morning we had to leave we were sad.

Lauterbrunnen

We rode the trains to get to our next destination, it took 4 train rides to get there from Zermatt. Here is where having the SBB, the Swiss Railway app, was very useful. You enter where you want to go and time of departure and it informs you which train to get on and from what platform number, then what station to get off and transfer to another train and on what platform. You have a few minutes to either cross to the other side of the same platform you arrived at or to switch to another platform. So you do have to pay attention and move quickly. Having only a small amount of luggage to tow with you is best — we just had a carry on and a backpack — and it all worked out fine. We were amazed by how well the railway system is run!

Once we arrived at Lauterbrunnen we took a cogwheel train up to Wengen, where we had decided to spend our three nights in this area.

Wengen has gorgeous views of the Lauterbrunnen valley. There are several small towns you can choose to stay in the area, but I’m glad we chose Wengen. It was a good base and easy to get to other places from here.

The scenery was unreal, we felt like it was a backdrop for a movie. It’s no wonder Tolkien was inspired from this area to create Rivendell in Lord of the Rings.

View of Lauterbrunnen Valley from Wengen — View of Lauterbrunnen Valley from next to the Evangelical Church in Wengen

Hiking path along the top of the mountain in Mannlichen, Switzerland — Walk along the path at Mannlichen to the Crown for an amazing view

We rode a gondola up to Mannlichen where we got to hear the cow bells from a few dozen cows that were eating the grass up at the top. We walked along the top of the mountain to the end where there is a structure that looks like a crown from where you can see the surrounding mountain peaks, Lauterbrunnen valley and Grindelwald.

Cows eating grass at Mannlichen with the mountains in the background — The cows at Mannlichen, the bells on their collars were clanging away!

Across the valley from Wengen is Murren, where you also get views of the valley and another view of the Jungfraujoch, Munch, and Eiger mountain peaks.

View of Lauterbrunnen from the train leaving Murren — View of Lauterbrunnen from a train leaving Murren

One day we went up to Jungfraujoch, Top of Europe. It was an experience going up to the place with the highest train station in Europe. Up at the top you are at 11,333 feet/3454 meters, which is quite high. This elevation can bother many people, and you have to watch for altitude sickness. I had a hard time catching my breath and toward the end of the stay started developing a headache, that’s when we knew it was time to go back down!

The scenery from here is spactacular! You have a view of the largest glacier in Europe, the Aletsch Glacier.

The Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in Europe

There are several things to do here. Walk through the ice tunnels where you also see various carvings of things like penguins, an igloo, and a grand piano. There’s the world’s highest chocolate shop, courtesy of Lindt. There are couple of eateries, a restaurant and a more casual cafeteria style place.

A couple glasses of prosecco at the top of Jungfraujoch

You can walk outside onto the glacier. You can continue to walk along the trail to get to the Mönchsjoch Hut (if you plan to go the whole distance it’s about a 2 hour hike) or just grab a beer, hot chocolate, or prosecco from the stand outside.

Take an elevator up to the Sphinx Observatory and step out onto the terrace for more spectacular views.

Small chocolate bar passed out on the Jungfraujoch train

The Swiss LOVE their chocolate! On the train, on the way down they passed out chocolate. No complaints from us since the Swiss make such good chocolate!

The cost to go up to Jungfraujoch is expensive, but it is a once in a lifetime experience and we thought it was well worth the cost.

Another excursion we did was to go to Trümmelbachfälle. To get to Trümmelbachfälle we took a bus from the Lauterbrunnen train station, which took us along the Lauterbrunnen Valley floor. It’s a very scenic ride as there are Swiss houses dotted among the trees with the backdrop of the mountain sides. At Trümmelbachfälle you take an elevator about 328 feet/100 meters up inside the mountain. This will get you to the 6th chute, and you can walk up along the path to go to chute #10 which is the highest viewing point you can go to, and see the water fall coming down. There are viewing stations as you make your way down where you can see the rest of the chutes created by the water. The waterfall is the run off from three glaciers! It’s amazing to see what the force of the water can do!

Channel through the mountain carved by a waterfall, Trummelbachfalle, Lauterbrunnen

Montreux

Scenery from the train of vineyards along Lac Leman — Scene from the train of the vineyards along Lac Leman. France is on the other side of the lake.

From Wengen, we traveled by train to Montreux, a city on the edge of Lac Leman also known as Lake Geneva. We were now in the French speaking part of Switzerland. On the train, we rode on tracks sandwiched between the lake on one side and terraced vineyards on the other. It was such a different view from what we had been seeing!

They call this area the Swiss Riviera, you feel like you’re suddenly on a seaside vacation. Even the plants are more tropical. You can walk along the lake shore where the walkway is lined with a flowers blooming in various bright colors.

If you’re a fan of the band Queen, then you’ll like it here. There’s a statue of Freddie Mercury along the lake, right by the large market building. If you walk a little bit further east along the lake you will come to the casino where Queen had a recording studio. You can visit the studio and find out about the history of the band in this location, hear some Queen music, see some outfits they performed in, and try your hand at sound engineering.

Statue of Freddie Mercury from Queen, Montreux, Switzerland — Statue of Freddie Mercury from the band Queen, Montreux, Switzerland

We visited Chateau Chillon, a castle right on the lake. It looks like it’s right out of a storybook and it was fun to walk all around this historical building and take many photographs.

Chateau Chillon near Montreux, Switzerland

After the castle tour, we were hungry and took a bus to Vevey, we were curious to try the local wines and so headed for a wine bar, Le Poisson Rouge. The local wines did not disappoint and we had a large tray of charcuterie and cheese for lunch.

Charcuterie and cheese plate at Le Poisson Rouge, Vevey, Switzerland

Next, we explored the picturesque town by the lake. We didn’t have time to visit the food museum but in front of it, is a fun sculpture of a fork in the lake. Vevey is also the town where Charlie Chaplin spent his latter years.

Sculpture of fork in the lake in Vevey, Switzerland — Fork in the water in Vevey along Lac Leman

To get back to Montreux, we rode on an old paddleboat from the 1920’s that is used as the ferry on the lake.

Montreux is famous for it’s jazz festival and there is live music played in a lot of places. Our hotel had someone playing every night in the outside bar and it was nice to hang out and listen to the music.

The view of Montreux from our hotel room

Geneva

Getting to Geneva from Montreux was a very scenic train ride along Lake Leman. It was a beautiful sunny weekend day and there were many sailboats out on the water.

Our hotel for the last night was right next to the train station, so we dropped off our bags and went to explore the city.

St Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland

Sundays are when most of the stores are closed, so there wasn’t going to be any souvenir shopping, but luckily there were restaurants open. We had lunch at the Pomme d’Or, a cafe on the Place du Bourg-de-Four, which is a square in the old town area.

We went to St. Peter’s church, where you climb up to the top for a stunning overlook of the city and see the Jet d’Eau, a fountain that shoots water up 460 feet/140 meters in the air.

View from the St Pierre Cathedral tower with the Jet d'Eau fountain

We walked closer to the Jet d’Eau, it was crowded with many locals and tourists walking in the park by the lake, enjoying the good weather.

We got on a yellow water taxi to cross the lake, this was a fun experience as you had a chance to get a good view of the Jet d’Eau from the water. The style of the boat reminded us of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. We just didn’t have a captain telling jokes, although this talented captain easily single-handedly docked the boat.

Yellow water taxis on the lake, Geneva, Switzerland

There were many bars and ice cream stands open along the lake but they were crowded, so we found a cafe a few streets in to sit and enjoy some tea and the local seasonal plum tart.

This was our last day in Switzerland as our flight was leaving the next day from Geneva.

This was a whirlwind trip through Switzerland, as we moved location every 2-3 days, but overall we were happy with what we saw and the memories made. Zermatt was our favorite, seeing the Matterhorn was special, but also we liked the picturesque village with no cars.

Planning your Trip to Switzerland

Some notes about traveling in Switzerland that will help with your planning.

Getting around - we opted to purchase a 15 day Swiss Travel Pass. At 460 USD it’s pricey, but it allowed us to not to worry or spend time obtaining tickets for each train or ferry or bus ride, as it covered most of our transportation. Certain trains and gondolas (such as Gornergrat, Jungfraujoch, were not covered, but we did get discounts with the Swiss Travel Pass. Also with the Swiss Travel Pass, you get into many museums for free or at a discount. We purchased the pass ahead of time, that way once we landed in Zurich, we could use it right away for the train into the city. The pass is activated by date. You can have a mobile version on your phone, and also have a paper copy printed just in case. Often, a train conductor would ask to see it.
Electrical outlets - in Switzerland the outlets are different than most European countries, so you will need a special adapter just for Switzerland.
Currency - Switzerland currency is the Swiss Franc, CHF
Language - Switzerland has three official languages: German, French, and Italian
Reservations for activities - besides obtaining a Swiss Travel Pass there are some activities that you should make reservations/tickets for ahead of time, such as Lindt Home of Chocolate and the Glacier Express. Some people will book Jungfraujoch ahead of time, but you never know how the weather is going to be so it might be better to wait. For us we ended up going a day after we originally planned to because of the weather and we were able to purchase tickets the same day. If you plan to go during the busy season, then you may want to purchase tickets ahead of time.
Hotel reservations - we did a combination of booking straight with the hotel through their website or using Hotels.com. In some of the locations, we wanted to get a specific view, such as the Matterhorn in Zermatt or a view of the lake in Montreux, so we found the hotel and booked a room accordingly. After booking with Hotels.com, I confirmed directly with the hotel to make sure they had the reservation.